homework

that's what i'm doing right now.  nothing too exciting.  in child development we're learning about cognitive development as it relates to a few famous theorists, piaget and vygotsky.  it's been rather interesting for me to be learning some of these things as my children are at the age we've been learning about.  it's recently given me some insight into what i need to be careful of with my children and manners in which would be helpful for me to teach them.  it is also helping me understand more how their minds work, and what i can really expect from them at what age.  some children are behind or ahead of the general timeline, but for the most part i've found a lot of it to be true.

in my nutrition class this week we've been learning about minerals.  last week is was vitamins.  did you know that eating a lot of whole grains or spinach can interfere with iron absorption in the body?  another biggie is milk.  it reminded me of my friend nina.  she suffers from an iron-deficiency disorder, thalassemia.  so i immediately thought of her.  nina, are you listening?  be careful drinking too much milk...i know you love it! 

if you choose to not eat meats to get your iron, make sure that you intake a lot of vitamin c with your choices of foods that have iron.  vitamin c will help with the absorption of non-meat iron.  cool, huh?

besides all that randomness, we're definitely more settled in here.  chloe is taking a nap (phew!) and sienna is having "quiet" time, although she's really not all that quiet.  i need to record all the funny conversations she has with herself in there.  she's quite animated!

something that brings joy to all of the bakers this week, stephen's brother, jay, is home from afghanistan!  i can only imagine both his and colleen's joy and relief to be together again.  we love you four!

ps- the westfield mall in escondido has h&m (with the kids h&m too)!!  santa claus may or may not have bought a few things there today for me and the kids.  hm...